GRAND RAPIDS – Mitt Romney’s popular vote win and returns that show he’ll likely emerge with at least half of the delegates in his home state – despite losing much of West Michigan – will go down as a split decision.

But Adam Tountas, the Ottawa County Republican chairman, found a unanimous message that bodes well for the GOP, regardless of who eventually gains the party’s nomination.

“At the end of the day, what this tells me is that Republicans are fired up, excited and ready to do battle in the fall,” said Tountas. “People are looking for an alternative to Barack Obama and ideally that’s what we’re after.”

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, a Republican from Zeeland and a Romney backer, watched as Santorum outpolled his candidate across his district, save the northern county of Manistee.

“It was a classic Michigan battle. I’m not really surprised because I understand Santorum has a certain appeal on the social conservative side. That is not lost on me,” Huizenga said. “But what this shows, as I’ve said, Governor Romney has been the most consistent from the very start and is the best bet to become our next president.

Romney was able to win Ottawa and Kent counties in 2008, beating out John McCain and Mike Huckabee that year. In Ottawa, he stayed consistent, taking roughly 35 percent of the vote in each year, besting McCain’s 30 percent and Huckabee’s 24 percent. Santorum claimed about 50 percent of the vote in Ottawa in this cycle.

In Kent County, Romney’s vote percentage and totals increased from 2008, but he still fell short to Santorum by about 1,500 votes, results showed.

Huizenga didn’t read too much into the figures, saying every election is different.

“People vote their heart and each candidate strikes people differently,” he said.

Santorum, in addition to wins in Ottawa, Kent and Montcalm counties, took a narrow victory in Allegan County, getting 50.6 percent of the vote. Romney won only in Saugatuck, Saugatuck Township, Douglas and Gunplain Township, results show.

“What we’ve seen in the polls is a lot of Republicans have vacillated back and forth based on the negative ads,” said Josh Leatherman, the Allegan County chairman. “Certainly both campaigns poured a lot of money into the state. What we saw too was a lot of Democrats coming out” and voting for Santorum.

Coupled with Romney’s win in Arizona, he heads into Super Tuesday, when 10 states vote on March 6, the strongest candidate, Huizenga said.

That’s exactly what Rhonda Ison wants to hear. She voted for Romney and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing he gained the statewide win.

“I am very happy and, honestly, it’s a little closer than I thought it would be,” said Ison, of Grand Rapids. “I feel he is exactly what this country needs and that he can turn it around.”